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Utah and Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs Deserve Timely Federal Protection
Contact: Taylor Jones (303) 573-4898 x1159

Washington, DC—In the past four weeks Interior Secretary KenSalazar withdrew appeals of two federal court rulings striking down denials of protectionsfor prairie dogs. WildEarth Guardians, which obtained the court victories,applauds the withdrawal of these appeals as an important step in governmentreforms in endangered species protection.

“Hopefully this means that Interior will follow the letterand spirit of the Endangered Species Act by providing appropriate protectionsfor these beleaguered key species,” said Taylor Jones, Endangered Species Advocatefor WildEarth Guardians. “The courts have been clear that Interior needs toheed science, not political pressure, when making listing decisions. It’s timeto stop trying to dodge granting protections by making up new rules in themiddle of the game.”

In fall of 2010, a DC federal court judge struck down theFish and Wildlife Service’s 2007 decision to deny upgraded protections for the Utah prairie dog (The Service is the agency through which the InteriorSecretary has delegated Endangered Species Act authority). The court noted that the Service failedto explain why an 87 percent reduction in the Utah prairie dog’s range and anarray of threats were not sufficient reasons to upgrade it to endangered statusunder the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Around the same time, a federal court judge in Arizonadecided that the Service violated the law when it found that only those Gunnison’s prairie dogs located in montane habitat warranted ESA listing andthose in lower-elevation prairie habitat did not. The government lost on thesame legal point in Montana on August 5, 2010, over the delisting of graywolves in all Northern Rockies states except Wyoming. The delisting of those wolves,though deemed illegal by the court, was Congressionally reinstated by a rideron the recent budget, opening the door to other attempts at politicallymotivated listing decisions. But the mandate of the ESA has not changed, andthe withdrawal of these appeals reinforces the law’s guidelines.

By withdrawing these appeals, the Service is fulfilling thewithdrawal of a Bush Era solicitor’s memo that attempted to rewrite theguidelines for what could or couldn’t be listed under the ESA. Contrary to that memo, the ESA givesthe Service only threechoices: 1) list a species; 2) lista subspecies; or 3) list a Distinct Population Segment of a vertebratespecies. The ESA requires theService to list a species if it is endangered or threatened in all or asignificant part of its range.

“The Service had already determined that the Gunnison’sprairie dog is threatened in a significant portion of its range, which means itshould be listed range-wide,” said Jones. “The Service has already acknowledged that the Gunnison’s prairie dogneeds protection; it needs to be listed promptly so that the Endangered SpeciesAct can bring this ecologically vital animal back from the brink.”

Listing species under the Endangered Species Act has provenvery effective in preventing species extinction. Over 99 percent of plants andanimals listed under the act persist today. Scientists estimate that 227species would have gone extinct if not for ESA listing. Listed species alsobenefit from the development of federally funded recovery plans and criticalhabitat, if designated.